Harang waits out a win

It seemed unheard of in modern baseball these days. In a stunner on Sunday, the Reds sent starter Aaron Harang back out to pitch after a fifth-inning rain delay so he could notch one more out and qualify for a victory.

No matter how well he’s doing, a starting pitcher will usually be pulled from the game if there’s a lengthy rain delay. And today’s two-hour and three minute delay certainly qualified as lengthy. It also stopped action one out from an official game in the fifth inning when the Reds were leading 6-3.

“Harang, working on two hours rest…” joked a press box wag.

Harang was at 81 pitches before the stoppage. After play resumed, he faced two more batters and gave up a single before getting that final out on a Humberto Quintero strikeout to finish at 93 pitches. In five innings, Harang gave up three earned runs and 10 hits with one walk and four strikeouts. The Reds won the game 8-5.

“We were going to give him two hitters,” manager Dusty Baker said. “If he couldn’t get it done in two hitters, then we’d go to somebody else. With the hard luck Aaron had last year, you had to give him a chance to win that game.”

Harang, who is 5-4 with a 3.36 ERA, stayed loose indoors by throwing simulated innings in the batting cage.

“I went in there and told them I’m going to get this out,” Harang said. “It doesn’t matter to me how long I have to sit here and toss. I just tried to stay loose and stay active. The third or fourth time I warmed up, it was getting kind of dicey. They were getting a little antsy to decide what was going on.”

What did you think of the decision to send Harang back out? Gritty and old school competitor, or too risky for an injury even with the indoor throwing? How will this move go over, especially if he doesn’t do well in his next start?

Share this:

Like this:

Related

6 Comments

i don’t know if i would have sent him back out there. don’t get me wrong i am glad that he got the win today, but it just seems to risky to have sent harang back out there after a 2 hour 3 minute rain delay. yeah, he was warming up several times to keep loose, but it just seemed to risky in my opinion.

I would not have sent him back out there. I know Dusty Baker likes to give the starter every chance in the world to get the victory, but the team comes first. Harang is a major part of this team. His health and success are essential if they want to stay in the race.Russhttp://wight4256.mlblogs.com

When I first saw it, I was strongly opposed. When I read that Harang had been working out during the rain delay I felt a lot better about it. These are the kinds of “veteran player manager” decisions by Dusty that really define his style.

I really liked the decision. I think the team benefited from the physical and mental display of toughness not only from Harang but also from Dusty in allowing his starter to finish. Harang did all the necessary things needed to stay loose during the delay, so why not give him the chance to record just one more out?

Archives

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.